An expert in ultra-fast lasers has received a grant of €150,000 to develop a femtosecond laser system for material processing and laser surgery.
Professor Clara Saraceno from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, received the proof-of-concept grant from the European Research Council to demonstrate the potential of femtosecond lasers for industrial applications. The system will be designed for processing glass and polymers, and ablating aqueous tissues, which could be useful for laser surgery, the university says.
Saraceno will develop femtosecond lasers that operate at wavelengths of 2.1 microns and with repetition frequencies in the GHz regime. These lasers require less energy and are potentially more reliable than systems currently deployed in industry, the university says, and promise lower costs and faster production speeds.
In the process, Saraceno’s research group also intends to lay the groundwork for establishing a start-up.
“New lasers that are faster and more efficient, while generating lower costs, could be a key technology for the market,” said Saraceno, head of the Photonics and Ultrafast Laser Science group.
The project, titled Ultrafast 2.1µm Holmium Lasers for GHz ablation (Giga2u), will run for 18 months.